By David Tyler
It started out hopeful, as most new years do.
“Well we are now into 2020, a whole new year, full of possibilities,” read the first line of the editorial in the Eagle Bulletin’s Jan. 1, 2020 edition. And for the first couple of months 2020 seemed somewhat … normal, even upbeat.
“I could just be thinking about the world through rose-colored glasses, but something feels palpably different about the economy in Central New York,” Congressman John Katko told the crowd at the state-of-the-area event held on a snowy night in January, where the mood was one of hope and positivity. School administrators spoke of their programs’ successes and building modernization projects that were getting under way. Manlius Mayor Paul Whorral looked forward to the village’s annual July 4 celebration.
In each of the first few weeks of the year, the Eagle Bulletin’s events calendar was filled with the types of entries that make up a community: a daddy daughter dance, trivia nights, fish fries, children’s programs at the libraries, school musicals and art shows, 5K charity runs.
On Feb. 26, just a couple of weeks before the coronavirus began to fully dominate local lives and local headlines, the Eagle Bulletin ran an editorial that now seems almost quaint. “As we gradually approach the end of the winter season, we are nearing the finish line but by no means are we out of the woods yet when it comes to the possibility of catching the flu,” we warned readers. On the date that editorial was written, Feb. 21, there were 21 cases of coronavirus reported in Italy, which would soon become the epicenter of the disease.
By the second week of March, as case counts in the United States approached 3,000, local schools were closed. The Fayetteville-Manlius High School performance of Les Miserable, scheduled to run from March 12 to 14, was abruptly cancelled. Initially, the school closings were to last until April 16, the day students were scheduled to return from spring break. Instead, school buildings remained closed for the remainder of the school year as students and teachers made the difficult transition to digital learning.
By the week of March 16, coronavirus arrived in Onondaga County. Businesses classified as essential were allowed to stay open, with restrictions. Businesses deemed non-essential were forced to close their doors to the public. For some, that meant closing their doors for good.
Spring of 2020 will be remembered as a time of unimagined hardship, but it will also be remembered as a time of remarkable perseverance and goodwill. With PPE in short supply, across the area those who could sew turned their handiwork toward making masks. Local distilleries began pumping out hand sanitizer instead of libations. Donations of food, diapers and even blood soared. Technology teachers at ESM converted their 3-D printers so they could produce face shields for health care workers. Drive-by parades became a thing, as families longed for a way to see loved ones or celebrate a child’s birthday. And 2020, for many families, will be remembered by many families as the year Grandma learned how to use Zoom.
By the end of May, as restrictions on businesses were gradually eased, it seemed like we were learning to live with the pandemic.
And then 2020 reared its head again with the killing of George Floyd.
While protesters clashed with police in many communities across the nation, including in the city of Syracuse during the first week after Memorial Day, in the eastern suburbs protests were peaceful and leaders took the opportunity to create learning experiences for the community.
In Manlius, students organized a protest that drew more than 500 people where they discussed the experience of growing up as a minority in the largely white suburbs. In Fayetteville, more than 300 people attended a listening session where speakers spoke of inequities in education, housing and business ownership, as well as the social challenges black people face in the suburbs. In DeWitt and East Syracuse, black residents came forward at a series of discussions and spoke of the racism they had encountered in their own neighborhoods, at local stores and in their interactions with police. New DeWitt police chief Chase Bilodeau showed his unity with protesters by marching in a Black Lives Matter parade. The town of Manlius created a new citizens advisory committee to provide a greater connection between the police department and residents of the town. That committee’s work is ongoing.
In September, after receiving a petition requesting a variety of changes to its curriculum, staffing and discipline practices signed by more than 1,250 people, the Fayetteville-Manlius school board adopted two goals centered on creating a more equitable atmosphere throughout the district. “F-M must practice what it preaches and actively be against racism … rather than simply being non-racist,” said Noni Unobagha of the class of 2017. “As seen in recent news, this issue is not resolving itself, but instead, escalating.”
As police agencies came under fire across the country, it took its toll on local agencies as well. Manlius Police Chief Mike Crowell reported several times throughout the summer that morale in the TMPD had taken a hit in the weeks following George Floyd’s death. In response, a rally was held in Minoa in September to extend support to the police. “The next time you see one of our officers, tell them ‘thank you’ for the job they do to protect us,” Minoa Mayor Bill Brazill told the crowd.
As summer turned to fall, attention once again returned to the schools. Words like “hybrid model,” “synchronous classes” and “cohort” became part of most families’ lexicon as each district created its own plan for how to provide in-school education in a manner that ensured the safety of both students and teachers.
Mini outbreaks of coronavirus that were so feared at the beginning of the school year became commonplace, as did quarantines and temporary shifts to remote teaching.
As the leaves began to turn, the nation, including eastern Onondaga County, focused its attention on the election.
While the Eagle Bulletin’s coverage centered on local candidates, a quick review of the letters to the editor during the weeks leading up Nov. 3 showed that local residents carried just as much animus for the other side as anywhere else in the nation. Onondaga County residents – particularly Democrats – took full advantage of the multiple early voting mechanisms that were put in place to allow people to vote safely in the pandemic and the ebb and flow of results following similar patterns.
On election night, it seemed as though the Republican candidates for both Assembly and Senate in Manlius would be the winners, but as tens of thousands of mail-in votes, largely favoring Democrats, were counted in the weeks following the election, Democrats Al Stirpe in the Assembly and John Mannion in Senate were declared the winners. In true 2020 fashion, the final results were delayed by a coronavirus outbreak at the county board of elections.
In the last weeks of the year, the predicted fall surge of coronavirus truly came to pass, as daily totals of new cases, which had fallen into the low double digits in Onondaga County, eclipsed 100, then 200, then 300, then 400. December also proved to be by far the deadliest month to date, with 186 county residents dying of COVID-19 as of Dec. 28. But with that tragedy came hope, as health care workers and nursing home residents began getting the vaccine just before Christmas.
As the year comes to a close, it does so with the pandemic raging, but the light at the end of the tunnel, while still faint, is growing brighter.
